The Importance Of Dedicated IP Addresses

An IP address is similar to your home address. It defines the way your device (your computer, smartphone, laptop, or even your car or an appliance) communicates with other devices within a network. The device can communicate with other devices in a local network or the whole internet.

The problem of a dedicated address arises mostly with hosting your website. If your want to set up a website on a shared server, there will always be a question of a dedicated IP address. Is it really necessary and why is it necessary. The alternative is to use a shared address, but a dedicated IP address has crucial advantages we want to explain here. So let’s start from the beginning.

What is a Dedicated IP address?

Internet Protocol or IP for short is a unique address which every computer gets when it connects to a network, whether it is the internet or a local network. This address is the key identifier which computers use to understand the right location of a machine or a website inside a defined network.

The difference between a shared and a dedicated address

The idea is very simple. A shared IP works as a single address to which multiple websites refer to, all inside a single web server. The server, in this case, has to work a little harder to „connect the dots“ and parse the request to the right website. On the other hand, a dedicate address means that the website has its own, unique address. This means that you can use this address or the domain name to access the site from the web simply.

Benefits of dedicated IP addresses

The main benefits include instant access to websites; it provides better reputation for the sender of emails, it’s great for your business identity and so on.

A dedicated address allows you to access the server directly. You do not have to change the DNS settings, and this means that you can check the way your new website will look like before the launch.

Email services can have problems with shared addresses. If you use a dedicated address, you can isolate your service from abuse. For example, you can avoid being banned or blacklisted.

Having your dedicated IP address is always good for business identity, especially if you are in the online shopping or other e-commerce business. In fact, it is practically necessary to have such an address because of better security. We strongly recommend a dedicated address in this case if you do not plan to use third-party services for payment handling.

Finally, the SNI technology might not always go hand in hand with some of the older browsers if you use a shared IP address. Visitors of websites set up like this will often receive messages with info about an untrusted connection. You can easily solve this problem if you choose to opt for a dedicated IP address.